Lix LemForum, feedback by Forestidia86

[Forestidia86]

Since I don't know when I get around doing further levels of the harder ranks and I've gathered some level solutions I've attached some replays (should work with 0.9.4).

4 Daunting levels:

1 - Rhapsody--
4 - Over My Head
12 - Alternative Route Required
21 - Slipping Again

1 Vicious level:

14 - Five for Fighting

1 Hopeless level:

14 - Parking Garage

Remarks on the Daunting levels

"Slipping Again" and "Over My Head" are reproduced from old replays.
I remember "Slipping Again" being quite tough to find the solution; that I fiddled around a lot.
Of "Over My Head" I have no recollection but the solution doesn't look that hard to find.
"Alternative Route Required" seemed quite easy for that rank.
"Rhapsody--" was tough for me despite having a rough idea what to do early on. My problem was finding out where to do what actions; there were many possible combinations. Apart from that creating the bashing tunnel in the end was quite lenghty.

Remarks on Five for Fighting

I just noticed that this is the equivalent to mobius' "Whispering Wind". I have another solution here, which wouldn't be possible in the mobius variant I think. So maybe a backroute; I used all skills and everything fitted together but it seemed rather easy for this rank.

Remarks on Parking Garage

This level was adequately tough for this rank. But if you understood the general working of the level and one or two tricks the level was bruteforceable I think.

[mobius]

Your solutions to mine were intended. Extra skills there are a red herring.

Five for Fighting is not actually the same as "Whispering Wind". The terrain is similar but the solutions are supposed to be different. Five for Fighting is supposed to have a time limit which removes a bunch of solutions, but maybe that's no longer necessary.

Over my Head has a few similar solutions.

Interesting that still people are finding "Rhapsody" more difficult than it's position. This has come up a lot it seems, while I've always found this level pretty easy (but still a great one)

[Forestidia86]

Thanks for the feedback.

Interesting that still people are finding "Rhapsody" more difficult than it's position. This has come up a lot it seems, while I've always found this level pretty easy (but still a great one)

I'm not sure if I think Rhapsody is too tough since Daunting levels are supposed to be already tough I think. The level just hit my weakness of having to think in advance and deal with many possible combinations. I probably think more in a bruteforce (and problem by problem) manner, so that many possible combinations are generally harder for me.

[Forestidia86]

I've solved 10 further Daunting levels and attached replays.

Some remarks

"A Towering Proposition"seemed quite tricky.
"Buy One Get One Free (Part 2)": I've solved this level twice because I forgot that I had solved it recently. But in both cases it was rather hard for me to find the solution.
"Go West!" was a level I'd tried unsuccessfully to solve in my first playing phase. My solution now is quite fiddly.
"I'm Gonna Make You Mine": I'm not sure if the blocking mechanic I used is intended.
"Passing Engagement" was interesting but felt rather easy relative to this difficulty.
"Rumble to the Bottom": I thought too complicated in progress of solving this level but in the end it was quite straightforward.
"Slipping": Similiar mechanic to "Slipping Again" (makes sense) and an easier variant I think (makes sense as well). The freeing of the crowd was fiddly for me.
"The Lix Who Japed" felt rather easy relative to the difficulty as well.
"This is Too Much Stepping Stones" has an interesting twist, but which is hinted at by the level design. I originally thought there was a higher save requirement, so I made it more complicated than it has to be.
"Variety Day" was a very interesting and had really a varied gameplay but was on the rather easier side as well.

[Proxima]

Excellent replays -- those are all intended or at least acceptable. "A Towering Proposition" is slightly overcomplicated; the intended solution is very similar but you don't actually need that tricky step of timing the first two miners.

The intended solution to "I'm Gonna Make You Mine" is indeed to make a bridge wall with right-to-left builders, but I had a very different way of achieving this, using the platformers. Any solution that works is fine on this one.

[Forestidia86]

Thanks for the feedback.

I've solved 8 further Lemforum levels and mainly post to ask if my solution to "Jack in the Box" is intended. This one looks quite peculiar.

Remarks to the 5 Daunting levels

"Backslash" led me at first in the wrong direction and that was the main difficulty of the level.
"Death or Glory": Thought a bit too complicated at first but it is a rather straightforward level.
"Jack in the Box": I used a very extreme case of synergy between blockers and builder. Had quite some skills left in the end.
"Lixes in Motion": Another level that seems to lead you in the wrong direction. It is a bit timing intensive but a very interesting little level.
"Railroad Plot": For quite some time I had the wrong approach. In the end I had 2 diggers left.

Remarks to the 2 Vicious levels

"Changing of the Guards": This level seemed to me impossible at the beginning. But in the end everything worked out perfectly.
"Dividing Three By Two": Here I thought too convoluted in the beginning.

Remarks to "The Mon0lith"

Even with the runner this level seems fiddly and a bit trial and error for the last part. I think I had brought me in a situation where the last part was impossible timingwise and had then to adjust my solution by rewinding quite a bit.

[Simon]

Re: Jack in the Box

Yeah, this is intended, but execution is very precise.

The intended method is to block twice on the floor, not twice on the staircase, but still trapping the builder between the two blockers. The builder makes this zig-zagging staircase, then cubes on top. The blockers will be released by walker assignments instead of digging away their floor.

Did you know before that you can assign walker to blocker?

-- Simon

[Forestidia86]

Thanks, Simon, for your answer.

Spoiler

Re: Free blocker with walker assignment:
Yeah, of course I generally know that, I've played through hundreds of levels by now.
But funnily the question nevertheless somehow hits the point in the sense that I had actually not realized in that moment that I've walkers available and could use them that way.

[Forestidia86]

Attached another bunch of Daunting solutions.

Some remarks

"Cornerstone" was quite timing intensive.
If intended the"Derailed Level" had a quite interesting and out-of-the-box solution.
"Hellfire" was an intersting level with nice puzzles.
"Just Stop the Bleeding": As the name said the puzzle was centered around holding up the lix and it was interesting to bring that together with the skills available.
"Narbacular Drop" was another nice level, not that hard.
"Now This is Fun" had its crazy parts and one particular trick.
"The Crimson Room" was about finding the right way.
"This Lix is Your Lix" seemed relatively easy for this rank.
"To Destroy is to Construct": I've seen the rough solution relatively fast but to bring it together in the right way was the tougher part.
"Tribute to Benny Hill": That's a very peculiar level with long waiting time.
"Two for His Heels": I really liked this level and it felt absolutely appropriate puzzlewise to this difficulty.

[Forestidia86]

I've solved 11 further Vicious levels and attached replays.

Some remarks

"100% Built by Lixes" is a difficult building puzzle and would have gotten me in earlier times. But since by the time I've been through a couple of those I actually got to the solution quite fast.
"3.1.1.1": The level design made rather clear what generally to do and was generous with walkers and jumpers to perform it.
"Betcha Can't Save Just One": Tough call which exit to focus. Although two seemed more viable than the others. This was a harder level for me and I left it at saving just one. I dont know if you can save more.
"Buridan's Lix": I thought too complicated in the beginning although I knew which exit to focus rather fast. This level is a tougher one.
"Halfway Down the Stairs": This relies on a peculiar trick if intended.
"Laser Deathroom": Again I thought to complicated and fiddly in the beginning. In the end everything fit together well. Another tougher one I would say.
"One-Lix Showdown": In this level it's about finding the right way which preserves the skills you need. I needed quite some time to figure that out.
"The Gr8 Escape": If intended it belonged to the easier ones. My solution relied on one builder trick that was quite fiddly to perform.
"The Last Laugh": This level is about holding up the lix and I took several overcomplicated wrong approaches in the beginning although they contained already right aspects. Felt appropriate for this rank.
"Theresa Falls Up the Stairs": I hope my solution now is closer to the intended one than my mobius' Lix Levels solution.
"Triangle Inequality": This level seemed too easy for this rank.

[Proxima]

Great work as usual!

"Derailed Level" is indeed intended. "This Lix Is Your Lix" is not, I'll need to fix that.

"100% Built" is not quite intended (it's based on a challenge for "Tribute to M.C. Escher" and you took advantage of the terrain step that isn't there in the original) but I'll allow it.

"Betcha can't save" is not the original intended solution -- according to Insane Steve's notes on the LemEdit original, you were meant to use three lemmings, sacrificing two to allow the third to exit. But we've known for a long time that this wasn't enforced on the original, there are solutions using only two lemmings, and it is indeed possible to save more than one

That's the intended right-side solution to "Buridan's Lix", but you haven't really finished the level until you've found both

"Halfway Down" is a level where anything that works is acceptable. The originally intended solution doesn't work in D Lix anyway. None of the solutions I've seen before use that cuber trick, that's a neat one.

[Forestidia86]

Thanks for the feedback.

That's the intended right-side solution to "Buridan's Lix", but you haven't really finished the level until you've found both

I have now found a solution for the left exit. This one seemed more complicated and timing intensive.

[Proxima]

Very impressive, I thought there was only one way to do that but you found a different solution!

[Forestidia86]

I've solved 9 further Daunting levels.
Furthermore I have a different left-exit solution for "Buridan's Lix" and a slightly different solution for "100% built by Lixes".

Some remarks to the Daunting levels

"Duality": I'm not sure if it's intended but it worked out.
"Gomen ne sunao ja nakute": Here the stairs just worked out with stretching and stuff. It was quite precise and tight. Not even sure if it depends on the new builder physics.
"I TOLD YOU ABOUT STAIRS BRO": I needed longer to solve this level than I should since the solution is actually not that hard.
"Lix Ferenda": I have nothing particular here. It has some (precision) parts that you have to think in advance of, which can get nasty.
"Round Trip": This level was a breather.
"Segmentation Fault": It somehow felt so mean to abandon that one hatch completely.
"The Ring of Fnargl": This led me in the completely wrong direction at first. It's a really peculiar level, almost Vicious worthy.
"This is a Stickup": This felt like a rather finicky level and I focussed the wrong side at first. In the end it was extremely tight and I don't know if what I did is intended.
"Merge Sort": For this level I had an indirect hint since I've glanced through the community set replacement thread sometime. Simon said there:

Merge Sort: rank 3 -> rank 4. Or put more steel, to point out where you should not mine.

Ironically in some way the level actually tells you where to mine but you have to understand it at first. But nevertheless this level feels quite obscure, especially since you see the whole crowd only very late. The positive aspect is that you learn a mechanics but on the other hand you can get deeply stuck in this level.

[Proxima]

"Gomen ne sunao ja nakute" is a backroute; I'll need to fix that.

Segmentation Fault: original level is 62/82. The possibility to ignore one hatch is an accident from reducing lix to 20/40 after VSI was removed. My best solution (attached) loses 18, with 10 in hatch after the route is complete. Obviously reducing numbers still further is not an option, so perhaps require 21 or 22/40? If others feel that requiring lose-18 is unnecessarily fiddly, could just go up to 30/50 or whatever.